This invention relates to a trailer with loading and unloading capability.
A great variety of goods to be transported by truck or trailer are stored in stacks at a manufacturing or distribution point. Examples are lumber, pipes and bricks. If a trailer can be provided with loading and unloading capability, the stack can be moved on and off the trailer as a whole, usually with considerably less effort than that involved in restacking all the individual items to be transported. This can be accomplished by using a trailer open at the rear so that it can be backed into a position surrounding the load. There must be some means for then raising the load into a hauling position and securing it there.
A trailer with an open rear lacks some of the structural members of an ordinary trailer; therefore, some compensating provision must be made in order to haul long and heavy loads. The items to be transported can be stacked on a pallet specially designed to be hoisted by the trailer and strong enough to provide the required structural integrity for hauling. Unfortunately, this requires an inventory of relatively expensive pallets on which to store stacked items later to be transported. The present invention avoids this problem, providing the capability to pick up and haul a pre-stacked long, heavy load, without resort to special expansive pallets.